Doris+Becker


 * SUMMARY: Doris Becker, age 21, died December 2, 1948 after an abortion performed by Dr. Cyril Babb in his Harlem, New York office.**

On December 5, 1948, 41-year-old Dr. Cyril B. Babb pleaded guilty to performing a fatal abortion on Doris Becker in his Harlem office on December 1, at around 9 p.m.

During the procedure, Babb reportedly admitted, he had pulled some of Doris's bowel from her body. This complication continues to happen in modern "safe and legal" abortions, including the death of Sharon Hamplton in 1996. Abortion-rights activists started a legal defense fund for the doctor who killed Sharon, so it would be the pinnacle of double standards to blame Doris's death on the legal status of abortion "forcing" her to get substandard care while dismissing Sharon's death because "all surgery has complications."

After injuring Doris, Babb summoned another doctor to assist in Doris' care. This other doctor notified the police.

Doris, who worked as a clerk at Railway Express Agency but was described in news coverage as a "blonde, 21-year-old Broadway model," died 20 hours after the abortion at the apartment of a friend, 28-year-old Anne Martin. Anne and a bartender, 33-year-old George Kutrones, were held as material witnesses.

Babb also admitted to performing 30 other abortions.

Though he later changed his plea and got a trial, he was found guilty. He was sentenced to 6 1/2 to 12 years in prison for manslaughter and abortion.

Doris's abortion was typical of pre-legalization abortions in that it was [|performed by a physician].

For more on pre-legalization abortion, see [|The Bad Old Days of Abortion].

Sources:
 * //New York Times// 12-5-48
 * New Age, September 17, 1949
 * "M.D. Held in Woman's Death," //Syracuse Herald Journal//, Dec. 5, 1948
 * "Babb Abortion Trial Delayed," //New York Age//, Dec. 11, 1948
 * "Dr. Cyril Babb Draws 6 and Half to 12 Years," //New York Age//, Sep. 17, 1949







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